Luogo e data di registrazione		Basilique San Petronio, Bologne
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer / Engineer		Peter Willemoes
	Edizione LP		Erato - STE 50 291 - (1 lp) - durata 53' 17" - (p) 196? - Analogico
	Note		Avec la collaboration des Fabbriceria et des Archives Musicales de San Petronio de Bologne - Archiviste: Sergio Paganelli.

Le palais ducal de MANTOUE fut édifié sur l'ile la plus élevée de la ville. Les parties les plus anciennes remontent aux siècles éloignés du bas Moyen-Age. C'est sur cette infrastructure que s'épanouissent orgueilleusement les formes architecturales et les fantaisies décoratives de la Renaissance, que créèrent pour la demeure princière: Gonzaga da Luca Fancelli, Andrea Mantegna, Giovanni Battista Bertani et particulièrement Giulio Romano, parmi d'autres artistes encore. La "Maison du Capitaine", le "Castello", la "domus magna", les appartements d'Isabelle d'Este, du duc Vincent Ier, du "Paradiso", les galeries, l'appartement de Marie-Thérèse d'Autriche: chaque époque artistique marqua de son empreinte l'interprétation architecturale et décorative du Palais qui, dans l'exubérance et la complexité de ses labyrinthes, nous apparait toutefois admirable d'harmonie et d'unité. “Musical Pleasantries for Three Voices, by Claudio Monteverdi, collected by his brother Giulio Cesare Monteverdi, and recently published. Containing the text of a letter which was promised “in Book V of his madrigals. Dedicated to His Most Serene Highness Don Francesco Gonzaga, Prince of Mantua and Montferrat, with all printing rights in Venice to Ricciardo Amadino, MDCVII. “Flowers cultivated and picked by my brother Claudio, from the beautiful gardens of the Royal Palace of Our Highness.” It was thus that, in his dedication, Giulio Cesare Monteverdi described his brother Claudio’s Scherzi. The year was 1607, the year of Orfeo, and the apogee of the glorious history of music in Mantua of which Claudio Monteverdi, Master of the Ducal Chapel, was the protagonist. Thus were born the Scherzi, for the courtly pleasure of the splendid princely palace of the Gonzagas. They are brief compositions in couplets, on texts taken from the works of Italian poets then in vogue. The name “Scherzi’’ was not typical of a still-Renaissance age which thought rather seriously of its love poetry. Designed to be sung, played and danced, these compositions employ the rhythms and motives of both older and then-modern dance forms. The passamezzo, pavane, romanesca, branle and courante represent the typical Renaissance forms while the forms which were to be typical of the Baroque are represented by such dances as the gavotte and siciliana. In addition, the rhythmic structure of many of these works possesses a singular character of refinement which requires of the performers a great capacity for analytical reading. In actuality, the Scherzi represent an exception to the usual Monteverdian style. In these works Monteverdi is said to have experimented with the Parisian “vers mesuré” style of assigning long note values to stressed syllables and short note values to unstressed syllables while carefully avoiding the trap of rhythmic monotony. This characteristic Monteverdi describes as an aspect of the new seconda prattica (known also as the "stile moderno"), and it is illustrated and defended (from an attack by Artusi) by brother Giulio Cesare in his introduction to the Scherzi. Each piece begins with a ritornello, played by three instruments, and repeated after each of the couplets for vocal trio or solo. The structure is based on the constant alternation of these two elements; the instrumental episode which is repeated verbatim, and the vocal episode which from verse to verse remains musically though not textually the same. Since each poetic stanza has the same scansion, the vers mesuré will apply equally well to all. Always it is the high voices, violins and sopranos, which lead the ensemble: The bass, with a few exceptions, plays a supporting role. The string trio of the ritornelli - derived most probably from older models resulting from the copying and transcribing of vocal trios - represents with its combination of two violins and a bass the elementary prototype of the trio sonata. According to the historical plan, the trio otherwise constitutes an essential contribution to the creation and evolution of a true instrumental ensemble style. Their instrumental balance, phonic equilibrium and stylistic maturity display the characteristics of the first true school of Mantuan violinists such as Salamone Rossi, Giovanni Battista Buonamente and others from whom emerged Claudio Monteverdi. The character of the poetry is quite diverse: A drinking song, full of life and gaiety; a declaration of love, tender and passionate; a sweet pastorale on the lament of a broken heart; and ecstatic contemplation and exaltation of beauty. There are also visions of nature; a rose, dawn, spring, all related to the different moods of the poet’s spirit. The final Ballet is a veritable triumph of love, within the Renaissance tradition of "Triumph" - Il trionfo di Dori, The Triumphes of Oriana, etc. Where the music reflects the words, Monteverdi’s genius breathes life, profoundly human, into a highly refined and stylized courtly poetic art. This recording includes all of the 16 Scherzi Musicali published by Monteverdi in 1607, presented in order and in the most scrupulous manner possible according to the prescriptions and possibilities indicated in the foreword to the first edition. Following the practice of the period, and in accord with the instructions contained in that publication, a harpsichord has been added to the viola da gamba to play the role of the basso continuo. However, this is not the case in all of the pieces since the affective character of some of them is not suitable to such treatment. C. GALLICO Translated and adapted from the French by James B, RICH